School nurse saves the day

Jefferson City Public School District officials are crediting a school nurse with helping to save the life of a young girl, Tuesday morning.

According to school reports, at about 7:30 a.m. a mother stopped on Fairgrounds Road in front of Thomas Jefferson Middle School (TJMS) in a panic.

Her daughter, an elementary–aged student, was choking and needed immediate help.

She pulled her daughter out of the car and called for help.

A TJMS staff member, Trish Adamson, heard the call and she told a nearby student to run and get school nurse Tracy Frank.

Frank began applying the Heimlich maneuver.

Whatever was lodged was not coming free and after three minutes the child began to lose consciousness, but Frank kept working and after nearly five minutes she was able to dislodge the object.

The child began to breathe normally and was able to walk with her mother to an awaiting ambulance.

Assistant Principal David Patton said, “Tracy didn’t quit. Even when the child went limp she kept trying. She was not going to stop, and she did exactly what she was trained to do.”

“So many people reacted just as you would hope they would – a caring staff member, an alert student, a principal, and a professional nurse all worked together to help another human being in a tense situation,” said School District Spokesman David Luther. “When people do things that are heroic, they almost always say, ‘I was just doing the right thing’ or ‘This is my job. I’m no hero.’ We imagine that will be the case now, but in our opinion nurse Tracy Frank is the definition of a hero.”